My first and longest Vell trip took place back on February 4^th, 2018. I just got online when all of my guildies were X-ing up in chat. I asked them what was going on. They didn’t explain much other than the fact that I should join them and that it would be fun! Of course I complied and set off on my first ship ride during a full moon. I should have known that full moon was a curse.

During the 40-minute trip they explained that I simply had to hang onto a cannon for safety and dive underwater when they told me to. It was as simple as that! But the next thing I knew, after Vell had spawned, my guildmates were dying left and right. Large stingray-looking-fish were leaping out of the water, doing a lot of damage to the guildmates on my ship. Being one of the gearlets, I was spared a spot at the cannon whereas the others tried to block the attacks.

It wasn’t long until the chaos ended. Though, by that time, the ship I was on had been destroyed, forcing all of us to huddle together on another guildmate’s ship in the hopes that we would make it back to Velia safely...until a mutiny occurred. One guildmate began to claim that the ship’s Captain was not taking us back to Velia like we wished but instead was going to Port Ratt! In a split moment, a handful of my guildmates jumped overboard and into the sea. It was now or never! I jumped after them, assuming the ones who fled had a plan. I swam towards the floating mob to see what the plan was. There was none. We called for the guildie to return in guild chat but they gave us the middle finger! We were stranded.

I had never been out to sea and had no idea of what to do so I let my fellow floaters brainstorm. One of them had an idea to use the [Old Moon Flare] from the loyalty shop! The flare was soon popped and the NPC boat appeared. We all climbed aboard and everything was back on track. Or so we thought. Why wouldn’t the boat move? The guildie who popped the distress flare had been teleported away by some sort of glitch. The NPC would not budge an inch unless the person who popped it was nearby. The guildie was so far away that we would have to wait a long time for them to return. We had only just discovered the problem when, somehow, a nearby shark caught wind of us and began attacking us on the NPC’s boat. My Guild Master, GarenTheMighty, was the first to abandon us. Soon, some of the others followed and swam for their lives. My guildmate Balmorg was the last one by my side until he too, left me.

I had no other choice but to abandon the one semi-steady landing I had and to swim as far away as I could. I cried out in guild chat. I was panicking since I did not know what to do or how to navigate in the ocean. They reminded me of the [Old Moon Flare]. Surely, I should have enough loyalties to summon one for myself! I decided to take the chance of being glitch spawned like my guildmate. Luckily, mine worked seamlessly. The moment the boat appeared, I flew onto it, unsure of where it would take me. Soon, the seas turned rough and the sky clouded above me. Even so, the boat trekked on.

Eventually, the skies cleared and I appeared, ironically enough, at Port Ratt. Many of the others had ended up at the port as well. None of us had a ship though. Only a few minutes passed by when a stranger sailed up! My guildmate, Angstrom_Dark, asked the stranger (Blisschen) if we could hitch a ride. Blisschen said yes! They happened to be picking up a friend of theirs from Vell too.

The final ride back took some time but without any incidents. I sat peacefully (and squished) between my guildmates, Angstrom and Ciyo9, until we arrived to Velia at last.

I refused to return to Vell until a month later.